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The use of digital data covered by Copyright in a multimedia production reflects a lack of creativity and is against the law in all circumstances. Discuss.
Today, we live in a society where multimedia is a major part of our lives. We listen to music, watch videos, write e-mails, take pictures and do many more things that have something to do with multimedia. Authors, creators, artists, actors, directors and many other people strive to make pieces of work for the public to enjoy. They expect that they will get paid for their efforts and no-one will steal their ideas. Unfortunately, this is not always the case. Sadly, there are people in this world that will copy a person’s work and claim it as their own without asking permission from the author or creator, even if the work is protected by copyright. Some will get caught and pay the price, while others get away with it over and over again.

So, what is copyright? Copyright is a right given to the author or creator of a work. It protects the way an idea is expressed. Some of the things that copyright protects are: -audio -video - artworks -graphics -literature - films - computer programs

Breaching copyright is called plagiarism (taking someone else’s idea and claiming it as your own) or piracy (illegally copying published material) and it can result in a heavy fine to jail time if you are caught plagiarising an author or creator's work. However, you can seek permission from the author to use the idea in your work. It is legal to use it in your work if the author has approved, but it is hard to know if the work is original or copied from somewhere else. It is so easy to steal someone’s work and claim it as your own. All you have to do is cut and paste it then change the wording around. It is also hard to know if the data is genuine and correct. The creators or authors should be able to receive the money and credit that they have worked for.

I believe that using another person’s work in a multimedia production without getting their permission reflects a lack of creativity. It proves that the plagiariser has a lack of imagination, talent and creativity and originality if they cannot come up with their own ideas and have to resort to copying another person. It also shows disregard for the law as copyright infringement is illegal. However, I only believe that it only shows a lack of imagination if most of the work is copied from someplace else. This shows that the person has not put enough effort into coming up with their own ideas. However, it may not necessarily reflect a lack of imagination and breaking the law if someone was to create a mashup of clips and audio with the permission of the author. Other types of multimedia may be used in different contexts (eg. sarcasm) to show different emotions. This does not show a lack of imagination. An example of a video mashup:

media type="custom" key="5750239" (A Fair(y) Use Tale, Youtube)

Technology advances and develops at an extremely fast rate, leaving the Copyright Laws trying and failing to catch up with it. Popular and new websites such as YouTube and BitTorrent allow users to upload and download audio and videos to the site. Other people then view or download these files. If this is a breach of copyright, shouldn’t they be taken down? If the artists aren’t getting the money they are entitled to, they might also be reluctant to share things with the public when they know they’re getting plagiarised from.

In some ways, downloading multimedia such as music and movies without paying for it should definitely be considered stealing. The anti piracy ads we see at the beginning of movies remind us that piracy is against the law. They claim that “if you wouldn’t steal a handbag, why would you steal a movie?” The comparison of these two things is correct, because if you steal a movie, you are essentially stealing something that is not yours because you haven’t paid for it. While it is right for the law to punish people for this, I don’t feel it is necessary sometimes. For example, in 2003 a twelve year old girl was sued for downloading a few songs from a song sharing site Kazaa. Her mother paid a fee of $29.99 to use the site. I don’t think it is necessary to charge a 12 year old girl of breaching copyright laws when she didn’t even know she was breaking the law. Yes, it is breaking the law, but instead of fining the girl, someone could have educated her about copyright and let her off with a warning not to do it again. The distributor of the songs that she downloaded may have been punished as well, depending if the song was actually paid for originally.

Copyright does not only cover the five main multimedia types though. Copyright also protects software. In order for a person to use it, they must pay for it. If someone was to pirate a copy of the software then distribute it (also known as software piracy), it would be considered illegal. Software piracy is becoming a big problem for software creators and distributors. The BSA (Business Software Association) claim that 31 percent of all computer software is pirated. The creators of the software and the distributors are not getting the amount of money that they deserve because people are pirating their software.

Shareware programs are different though. These are programs that are released as free to use programs. They often have a free trial period of about 30 days, and after that, if the user still wishes to use it, a small fee is to be paid in order to keep using the software. It is easier and cheaper to produce since they are often developed by a small company or an individual, it does not necessarily make large profits out of it. It is also easier to distribute because they do not need to package it and the makers do not need to advertise it. The number of people who copy shareware is probably less than the people who copy retail software because it is generally free to use, apart from the thirty day limitation. Freeware is an entirely different matter. It is free to download and use freeware, hence its name.

In conclusion, I believe that digital data covered by Copyright in a multimedia production reflects a lack of creativity and is against the law unless the person intending to use it is granted permission by the original author and it is presented in an original way. I also believe that people should be more educated in copyright and what could happen if they did commit copyright infringement, because it may lower the amount of people who commit plagiarism and piracy because they know what it is and what the punishment is.